September 30, 2005

When a breakfast bar containing X percent of raisins and Y percent of almonds is hailed a "revolution," well we gotta think that maybe the creative professions in America are in trouble. The term "revolution," so overused and abused, has morphed into meta cliche, cause of thousands of glaze-overs daily.

September 29, 2005

Those looking into the blosophere were 1000-percent convinced that we were nothing but a bunch of narcissists. And, in the early years of blogging -- just like this current phase of podcasting -- they were probably right. We took the idea of blogging as conversation literally. And, without any sense of audience or craftsmanship we yappedyappedyapped about weight, bosses, clients, boyfriends, girlfriends, parents, therapists.

But learn we did. Mostly the hard way. Mostly by finding our readership numbers plunging as we checked the stats on Typepad.

Mainstream media (MSM) and the blogosphere are keeping careful score on CEOs who blog (Think CEO Bob Cramer of LiveVault) and those who don't (Think 99.9 percent of all the other CEOs). And there's a downright glut now of advice on why or why not CEOs should blog. It's actually gone this far: Microsoft's Geek Blogger Robert Scoble has been asked would Microsoft CEO start blogging if Scoble left the company (and abandoned the famous "Scobleizer")

"Pleasepleaseplease, No PowerPoint," the dying man begs the medical team standing around his bed. That's the cartoon I expect to be seeing in THE NEW YORKER any week now.

Yesterday moi and about 100 business types sat through two PowerPoint presentations and one real talk. During the PowerPoints, it was glaze-over time. Too too many points were being clicked on and off. During the real talk, most of us perked up and listened. A point was being made. We could handle that. And the person talking real talk was funny, full of stories and brief.

September 28, 2005

In the 1843 Preface to "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens states that his intention is to "... raise the Ghost of an Idea." And that idea, as generations of readers and theater-goers know, is salvation through simple human kindness. That does the trick for spiritually bankrupt capitalist Scrooge. Yup, he's able to do a 180, with no heavy lifting.

Hovering over most of the Blogoshere is that same Ghost of an Idea: The fundamental belief that a little kindness can transform everything -- and everyone. To my amazement, I've been among the Saved.

September 27, 2005

I knew that question would be asked. And it came right up after my presentation on blogging at the Health and Beauty America Conference at the Javits Convention Center today in Manhattan. I also knew I could get away with answering, no one knows for sure. After all, even top blogging experts David Kline and Dan Burstein state in their new book "Blog!" that this medium is morphing so quickly it would be irresponsible to predict its future with any specificity.

September 26, 2005

That's what Boss Man at a marketing firm, a client of mine, asked me. They had just lost two major accounts. I answered diplomatically and gently.

But Boss Man really didn't need my response. Hey, he's in a creative profession. And for us creatives, the reality is always: When we ask that kind of question we're already in a downward spiral to boilerplate. That's because we've shifted our focus, passion, DNA from creating to watching others watch us watch them.

Success is morphing in America. Or, at least the perception of what success is. Remember how "My Son The Doctor" used to earn parents immediate status in social circles? No more. Medical doctors no longer earn enough money or have enough autonomy to justify the downside of a career in medicine. On my network, landing an MD is notnotnot considered "a catch."

September 24, 2005

Kate Moss' edge was too edgy for image advertisers such as Burberry. But, she wasn't the first to fall from grace because of a misunderstanding about how iconoclastic this stuff called "edge" can be. Her plunge was just more spectacular and involved more money.

In corporate communications, I've seen my share of $250,000-plus-bonus executives get the ax because the very edgy qualities they were hired for were, well, a little much. Those edges typically included visionary thinking, vestiges of adolescence in their personal branding, progressive political views, and the boldness to push past obstacles to get things done.